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Character & Roleplay Tutorials / Re: Writing a character with mental illness - tips and tricks
« on: July 16, 2018, 06:39:16 pm »I have personal history with mental illness, even implementing my own guide on my website (that may or may not become a roleplay, tbh I do not know). Here is my guide to this touchy subject.Quote
- As cliché it is to say, bullying of any kind is strongly forbidden. We have all been bullied, or even been the bully. It's a touchy subject and sometimes overlooked. Bullying can mean anything to anyone, but here and to me, bullying is calling someone derogatory names, shaming an interest or creation, deliberately stealing and claiming something that isn't yours, making a member feel scared to express themselves in some way or another, feeding or starting rumors, and even something as little as criticizing for spelling something wrong. We may be a semi-literate to literate roleplay and community, but some writers aren't good spellers or even grammarians.
Everybody has a strength and a weakness, but the fact of the matter is they try. Just, be nice. It isn't that hard to do, and it costs nothing. (It's okay to flame in-character, but please not out-of-character.) We are not a rag-tag loony bin, we are mature human beings that love weird creations. We can all learn to take a joke, but if it's passed the point of funny, just stop.
In-Character vs. Out-Of-Character Behavior
- We are not a rag-tag loony bin, therefore it is not okay to make your character a run-of-the-mill psychopath. For one, that is not original and two, it's super annoying. Yes, we have all went through that "edgy character" stage, even myself. You learn to grow out of that, usually when you get annoyed of yourself. Your character can be the pitch-iest black of them all, but add some flare to it. Why is their coat dark? Dark as night? Dark like fresh soot? Is it a layered, thick coat? Take the lovely Burn for example, Burn appears to be but a figment of one's own imagination. That he is, but his coal-colored coat can spread like ink in water. This way, he is able to eavesdrop on various conversations if desired and remain completely undetected.
- Some people portray a psychotic character as a rage-filled, bloodlusty killer. Hahahahaha, no. Not all psychopaths are criminal, it is a personality that is attached to criminals. It is a lack of deeply-felt emotion such as love, a failure to learn from one's mistakes, and antisocial behavior due to the lack of emotion. If you have depression, you are not a psychopath. You feel emotion, you are not a psychopath. You have mental outbreaks where you kill everything in sight...news flash, you aren't a psychopath.
- It's okay to have a character who is mentally ill, I have a handful myself. Just don't get too crazy with the amount of mental illness they have, and without clear triggers for other users to know of. Everyone has a breaking point, but we need to know what makes them tick. It helps a lot with planning plots, not mentally spontaneous combustion. That's too messy to clean up.
I will permit you to paraphrase what I have said, not copy it yourself to use as an example.
I support those who know that mental illness is a touchy subject and that there are misconceptions about disorders. It's like the saying, "It takes one to know one."
Thank you for this! I'm sure this'll come in handy too, you put it in my better words than I could.